Dispenser.



P. S. STAUFPER & G. W. BRIGGS.

DISPENSER.

APPLICATION FILED 1111132, 1911.

1,049,776, Patented Jan. 7, 1913.

LVVENTORS,

ammy A TTORNEY J.

COLUMBIA PLANouRn-n c0" wAsumuhw, u

. portunity or incentive to take more than the To all whom it may concern:

raise and discharge them singly, such conof such units in the mass, after they have UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER S. STAUFFER, 0F SPRINGFIELD, AND GEORGE W. BRIGGS, 0F CHICOPEE FALLS,

- MASSACHUSETTS.

DISPENSER.

Application filed June 2,1911. Serial No. 630,820.

Be it known that we, PETER S. STAUEF R, a resident of Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, and GEORGE W. BRIGGS, a resident of .Chicopee Falls, in said county and State, both citizens of the United States of America, have invented a new and useful Dispenser, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to' unit-delivering machines or dispensers, and consists of a container for units and an elevator within such container designed and adapted to travel through the units in the container and to tainer and elevator each being of certain peculiar construction, as hereinafter set forth.

The object of our invention is to provide a comparatively simple and inexpensive dispensing machine for selecting or segregating units from a stock or supply within and delivering them one at a time outside of such machine, in a convenient, practical and efli cient manner, to the end that thehandling been deposited in the machine, is avoided, thusinsuring cleanliness. Furthermore, a saving is effected, because there is less oprequired amount. WVith this machine, the aforesaid supply of units is completely inclosed at all times.

Dispensers of our type are particularly adapted to take the place of the open bowls now used for out, cube, or what is commonly known and herein classed as loaf-sugar, in restaurants. These bowls are left uncovered, thus exposing the contents to flies, dust, and other impure and deleterious agencies, and it is the custom for the patrons of the restaurants where such bowls are present to reach into the bowls and take out whatever amount of sugar or as many lumps as they desire. Obviously this is an unclean not to say dangerous custom, and one also that leads to the use of more sugar than is actually needed, to say nothing of the waste incident to thereplacing of the sugar rendered unfit for human consumption because of exposure and handling, provided even an attempt be inade to maintain sanitary conditions. All of the above mentioned disadvantages are eliminated by the use of our dispenser.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

Specification of Letters Patent.

A preferred form or embodiment ofour invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and we will proceed to describe the invention with relation tothe latter, al-

though it is to be understood that the form, construction, arrangement, etc., ofvthe parts in various aspects are not material and may be modified without departure from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings, in which similar figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a central vertical section through a loaf-sugar dispenser; Fig. 2, a cross-section on lines 22, in Fig. l,'looking down; Fig. 3, an enlarged detail of a fragment of the elevator chain; Fig. 4:, a perspective of the filling door; Fig. 5, an enlarged sectional detail of the upperterminal of the. exterior discharge or delivery tube, and, Fig. 6, an enlarged detail in plan of the movable guide or deflector at the upper or inner end of said tube.

In the present embodiment of our inven tion, the container, which constitutes an important feature of the same,comprises a hol low base 1, a hollow globe 3 mounted on such base, such globe preferably being made of glass, and a hollow cap-piece or dome 4 mounted on said globe, these members all being securely fastened together. The fastening means employed, in the present case, consist of a flanged diaphragmal member 5 which is cemented to the bottom of the globe 3 and forms a floor therefor, and a flanged ring 6 cemented to the upper edge of said globe, said diaphragmal member being secured to the base 1 and said ring to the dome 4 with screws 7. The diaphragmal member or floor 5 has a U-shaped opening 8 therein, for the purpose presently to be explained, and said floor dips downward toward such opening.

Formed on the front of the base 1 is a hollow projection or cup 9 which opens behind andbelow into said base. In the upper open end of the cup 9 is a receiver 10 for the sugar when delivered by the machine, such receiver consisting preferably of a series of horizontal parallel wires or bars arranged in said cup a little distance below the top rim thereof and separated so as to permit the particles of the sugar that become detached, when the lumps drop or tumble onto said receiver, to escape into said cup below and thence into the base 1, r I

' terminal.

Within the base 1 and projecting inwardly and upwardly from the inner edge of the receiver 10 is an inclined guide in the form of a trough 11. This is the bottom delivery member for the sugar, and it has two parallel slots 12 in the floor thereof, which slots open through the inner edge of each floor, as best shown in Fig. 2. The base 1 opens at 13, above the junction of the floor of the trough 11 with the receiver 10, for a purpose yet to be explained.

Within the base 1 is placed a pan 14 to receive the particles of sugar which escape through the interstices between the bars of the receiver 10, and any that may escape directly from the globe 3 above, either by way of the opening 8, or through and around the slotted part of the trough 11.

Opening at the top into the front of the dome 1, where it is attached, and extending downward in front of the globe 3, to open above the receiver 10, is a tube 1 5 which is the top delivery member for the sugar. The base of the tube 12 is a sufficient distance above the receiver 10 to permit a ltunp of sugar deposited on said receiver to be readily removed from the latter with the thumb and finger. The tube 15, as here shown, is provided with lugs 16, and by means of these lugs and screws 17 said tube is fastened to the dome 1.

The upper terminal of the tube 15 extends through a suitable opening in the dome 4 into the interior of the latter, and said terminal is provided with a guide or deflector 18 in the form of a plate fitting a cut-away portion or recess in the underside of said The deflector is rigidly attached to a rod 19 which is journaled in the tube 15 and provided at one end, outside of said tube, with a handle 20. The handle is' detachable, as shown in Fig. 6, so that it can be removed, after being used for setting the shutter 18 in the desired position, and thus prevent an unauthorized person from tampering with said shutter. The rod 19 is provided with a lug 21, and a spring 22 is secured to the underside of the tube 15 and arranged and adapted to bear on said lug and through the medium of said lug to retain the deflector 18 in either of its operative positions. The deflector 18 is in one of said operative positions when positioned in line with the part of the tube 15 at the end of which it is mounted, but may be turned upward and forward across said tube and into the other of said positions, as indicated by dot-and-dash lines in Figs. 1 and 5, by means of the handle 20 and the rod 19, the lug 21 then being forced into a new relation with the spring 22. Slots 23, similar to the slots 21 and for a similar purpose, are formed in the free end of the shutter 18.

In the back side of the dome 4 is a filling opening which is normally closed by means of a door 25. When this door is open the supply of sugar can be introduced into the container. The door has its bottom edge pivoted or hinged to the dome 4 at 26, and said door is provided with inwardly-extending side pieces 27 which convert the door when open into a trough or chute for the sugar. The arrangement is such that the door 25 opens outwardly into the position indicated by dot-and-dash lines, in Fig. 1, with the side-pieces 27 bearing against the upper edge of the door opening to limit the outward movement. WVhen the door is closed the side-pieces bear against adjacentparts of the ring 6 as shown. A knob for the door 14: is represented at 28.

Projecting inwardly or rearwardly from the inner edge of the front part of the ring 6 is a flanged extension 29 which forms a support for the upper end of a. vertical tube 30 in the globe 3. The base of the tube 30 is supported on the floor 5 over and around an opening therein which is above the inner terminal of the trough 11. The tube 30 is open at both ends, and said tube may be made of glass.

The elevator employed in connection with the container will next be described.

Suitably journaled in the base 1 in such a way that one terminal can projectbeyond what is the right-hand side of said base when standing in front of the machine, as represented in Fig. 2, is a horizontal shaft 31, and suitably journaled in the dome 4 in parallel relation to and directly over said shaft is a second shaft 32. Secured to the center of each of the shafts 31 and 32, or to the center of such portion of each of such shafts that is inside of the container, is a sprocket-wheel 33, and secured on the protruding terminal of said shaft 31 is a crank 34: forrotating the revoluble parts and members. Mounted on the sprocket-wheels 33 is a sprocketchain 35 which is provided with a series of pairs of fingers 36. The locations of the supporting and driving members for the sprocketchain 35 are such that the ascending reach of said chain passes through the open portion of or the clear space within the globe 3, near the vertical center of said globe, and through the lumps of sugar therein, while the descending reach of said chain passes through the tube 30, which surrounds said last-mentioned reach and so prevents the sugar from coming into contact with the same and interfering with the operation of the mechanism. Each pair of fingers 36 ex tends from the outer edge of a chain link, and the two fingers in such pair are first given a lateral direction relative to such link at the point where they spring from the same, then they are brought into parallelism, and finally at their free terminals are made to assume directions which are parallel with jects or extends.

the edges of the link by which said fingers are supported. In other words, each finger 36 is in the form of a hook ofi'set laterally from the edge of the link from which it probe slanted relative to its link, as shown.

From the foregoing, when taken inconnection with the illustrations, it is plainly to be seen that, assuming each pair of fingers 36 to be properly proportioned relative to a lump of sugar of average size, as such pair is carried upward through the globe 3 behind the' tube 30 a lump of sugar, as 37, will be segregated from the mass and raised to the top of the upper sprocket-wheel 33, such lumpfitting between the two fingers in such pair, with one corner projecting downward between said fingers, and being in this position securely held by the fingers until they arrive at the place where said lump is to be The construction is such does the actual work of segregating and ele vating the sugar, some provision should be made to that end, and this we have done by forming projections or lugs 39 on the outside edges of the hubs of the chainlinks and oflsetting such lugs on contiguous hubs into each others way or path so that they will engage or abut at their contiguous edges, where the chain is straight, and thus prevent said chain from buckling inward, but will not interfere with the bending of the chain in its passage over and under said sprocketwheels. By thus stiffening, so to speak, the reaches of the sprocket-chain, said chain is without difliculty able with its fingers to plow through the sugar in the globe3 and carry up out of the mass of such sugar alump on each pair of such fingers as such pair passes through such mass.

Although from the foregoing the opera tion of the dispenser will be pretty well understood, we will next describe in order the ations of the movable and operative parts chain and its fingers and the manner in which the lumps become connected with such fingers prevent more than one from being carried by any pair of fingers to the point of delivery to either the tube 12 or the tube 30, and on account of the further fact that there is some distance between adjacent pairs of fingers. Any particles that may become detached, when a lump of sugar strikes the receiver 10, escape between the bars, of which the receiver is comprised, into the cup 9 and pass therefrom into the pan 14:, and particles and small broken pieces of sugar in the globe 3 escape through the opening 8 into said pan direct, all as hereinbefore noted. The accumulation or deposit in the pan 14, from these two sources, can be readily emptied out at any time.

From the foregoing it is clear that, by simply changing the position of the deflector 18, the machine can be made to deliver from the top by way ofthe outside tube, on the one hand, or at the bottom by way of the inside tube, on the other hand, it making very little if any practical difference which delivery is used. The receiving point is the same in both cases. WVhen the bottom delivery is used, the major portion, or that part which is outside of the globe 3, of the tube 15, is, of course, of no service.

WVhat we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, in a dispenser, with a suitable unit container provided with top and bottom delivery means, such bottom delivery means including an open-ended t-ubular member within said container, and a deflector arranged to direct the units into either said top delivery means or into the upper end of said tubular member, of an elevator in said container operating through said tubular member and adjacent to said deflector.

2. The combination, in a dispenser, with a suitable container, for units, provided with top and bottom delivery means and with an adjustable deflector, of a pair of sprocketwheels mounted in said container and a sprocket-chain carried by said sprocket wheels, said sprocket-chain being equipped with unit-carrying fingers and being positioned to deliver the units raised thereby to either the top or bottom delivery means, according to the position of said deflector.

3. The combination, in a dispenser, with a suitable container, for units, provided with interior bottom and exterior top discharge or delivery members and with an exterior receiver arranged adjacent to the exits of such members, and an adjustable deflector suitably located to. divert the units into either delivery medium, of a pair of sprocketwheels mounted in said container and a sprocket-chain carried by said sprocketwheels, said sprocket-chain being equipped with unit-carrying fingers and being positioned to deliver the units raised thereby to either of the aforesaid delivery mediums.

4. A dispenser comprising a suitable container having a unit-delivery opening in the base thereof and provided with a unit-supporting floor and with an open-ended tubular member rising from and opening through such floor, unit-receiving means below the bottom of said tubular member and adjacent to said opening, and an elevator within said container, passing through said tubular member, and adapted to convey units from the mass in the container to said unitreceiving means.

5. A dispenser comprising a suitable base, a unit receptacle mounted on said base and having a floor, an open-ended tubular member rising from said floor and opening through the same, and an elevator within said base and receptacle to transfer the units from the receptacle to the base below said floor, such elevator consisting in part of a lifting chain which is arranged with one reach in such tubular member and the other reach outside of such tubular member, and said floor having an opening therein of a size and shape to permit the chain to pass without permitting the units to escape with it.

6. A dispenser comprising a hollow base, a unit receptacle mounted on said base and having a floor, an open-ended tubular member rising from said floor and opening through the latter, an elevator within said base and receptacle, such elevator consisting in part of a lifting chain which is arranged with one reach in such tubular member and the other reach outside of such tubular member, a receiver opening into said base below the horizontal plane of the bottom of said'tubular member, and a guide arranged to direct the units delivered by said elevator through said tubular member to said receiver, said tubular member serving both as a guard for said chain and as a conduit for the units handled by said chain.

7. A dispenser comprising a hollow base, a unit receptacle mounted on said base and having a floor, a dome mounted on said receptacle, an open-ended tubular member rising from said floor and opening through the latter, elevator chain carrying members (supported in said base and in said dome) and a lifting .chain carried thereby, one reach of such chain being in such tubular member and the other reach outside of the same, and said floor having an opening therein of a size and shape to permit the chain to pass while preventing the escape of the units therethrough, a receiver opening into said base below the horizontal plane of the bottom of said tubular member, and a guide arranged to direct the units delivered by said chain through said tubular member to said receiver, said tubular member serving both as a guard for said chain and as a conduit for the units handled by said chain.

8. A dispenser comprising a hollow base, a unit receptacle mounted on said base and having a floor, an open-ended tubular mem'- ber rising from said floor and opening through the same, an elevator within said base and receptacle, such elevator consisting in part of a lifting chain which is arranged with one reach in such tubular member and the other reach outside of such tubular member, a perforated receiver opening into said base below the horizontal plane of the bottom of said tubular member, the perforations in such receiver being only large enough for the escape of small particles, and a guide arranged to direct the units delivered by said elevator through said tubular member onto the perforated part of said receiver, said tubular member serving both as a guard for said chain and as a conduit for the units handled by said chain.

9. A dispenser comprising a hollow base, a unit receptacle mounted on said base and having a floor, an open-ended tubular member rising from said floor and opening through the latter, elevator-chaimcarrying members (supported above and below said floor) and a lifting chain carried thereby, one reach of such chain being in such tubular member and the other reach outside of the same, and said floor having an opening therein of a size and shape to permitythe for such units chain to pass while preventing the escape of the units therethrough, a perforated re ceiver opening into said base below the horizontal plane of the bottom of said tubular member, the perforations in such receiver being only large enough for the escape of small particles, a guide arranged to direct the units delivered by said "elevator through said tubular member onto the perforated part of said receiver, said tubular member serving both as a guard for said chain and as a conduit for the units handled by said chain, and a pan in said base to catch any particles from the units that may pass through the opening in said floor for said chain and through the perforations in said receiver.

10. The combination, in'a dispenser, with a suitable container for units, of an elevator within said container, such elevator comprising suitably-mounted sprocket-wheels and a sprocket-chain carried by said sprocket-wheels, and means to prevent said sprocket-chain from buckling between said sprocket-wheels, such means consisting of lugs on the chain-link hubs which lugs on contiguous hubs are offset into each others path, so that said lugs engage at their contiguous edges when the chain is straightened.

PETER S. STAUFFER. GEORGE W. BRIGGS. Witnesses:

F. A. CUTTER, A. O. FAIRBANKS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. 0. 

